The “Caddy Concept”
Yes I like golf but that is not what this blog is about. It is about business development. The hardest thing about business development actually doing it. Don't kid yourself, business development is something that takes years of experience to do well. After you have worked through a number of tough situations, you can handle pretty well anything. No course can teach you that. So where does the caddy fit it? Here's the story.
I was working recently with a group of high potential leaders. These leaders are working on developing their leadership skills both in the market and internally within their organization. We were discussing business development and how difficult it is to develop that skill. I told them that I thought training courses had some value. Courses teach the concepts (target lists, preparing for meetings, getting the next meeting). Concepts are good to get you started but they don't always help you with that tough client meeting.
One of the people in the group said,
I don't need more courses. What I really need is a caddy to help me with business development.
Great concept! Caddies help you to take the tough shots. They help with choosing the right tools (club selection). They provide support and shore up confidence (a necessity in golf sometimes!). They act as a sounding board after your shot (good or bad). They do not swing the club.
To get good at business development, you need a caddy. Caddies do not conduct the meeting for you (unless they are showing you how to do it). A caddy is an experienced person who knows the ropes in business development and can help you:
Plan your client meetings Follow-up effectively Deal with objections and difficult situations Watch you with clients and provide feedback Even open some doors for you
Business development is a hard skill to learn. It takes years. Get yourself a good caddy (or maybe two).
Studies Reveal that College Women Work Harder Than Men - Is This Good News for Women?
An interesting slant on how women may be working differently, and ignoring 'networking' as a key way to get ahead.
http://www.womensleadershipexchange.com/blogentry110.php
“Walking the Plant Floor”
I have two stories to tell, one from my personal experience and one from a client meeting I had yesterday. Both stories are about staying grounded and staying connected to what really matters at work. Both stories are about maintaining energy and confidence. This is tough to do sometimes particularly when we are busy and working on issues we don't love. I'll start with my story.
When I first started working, I worked in labor relations for an aircraft manufacturer. Relations with the union were terrible. Our department spent most of each day researching how to say "no" to the various grievances filed on a daily basis. We spent two days a week in grievance meetings with union representatives arguing the most pressing grievances. We had file cabinets full of grievances that we never even got to. I'm sure you are thinking, "How discouraging!" and indeed it was. I didn't work there long but while I was there, I got some good advice from a colleague. I still think about and take this advice regularly. He said,
"When you really need to remember why you are doing this and what really matters, do what I do and walk the plant floor."
The plant floor was huge. There were many skilled employees and their managers making airplanes. It was fascinating to watch. Most people had great pride in what they were doing and loved to talk about it. Whenever I returned from "walking the plant floor", I had a renewed sense of purpose and clarity around what really mattered -- the people making the airplanes.
Here's story number two. One of my clients has been "walking the plant floor" (figuratively) and she told me about it yesterday. She is a member of a Professional Service Firm. She has had a particularly difficult year. Business in her area of the country is off. There are all the staff issues and political challenges that come with tougher times. Her focus has been internal and been on issues that at times can be quite discouraging (underperforming staff, political infighting,etc.)
She needed to "walk the plant floor" again. Walking the plant floor for her is spending time with her clients and meeting new clients. This women is great with clients, she loves to be out in the market and she loves to help clients solve their issues. She has spent the past month doing that. How has it helped? Here's what she said to me,
"I have some new work. It is a start. I feel more confident and more energy around my work. The staff issues that were weighing me down seem less difficult. I can handle them."
Next time you need a shot of energy and confidence, think about "walking the plant floor." Get out from behind your computer and meet people who are most important to what you do. You'll be surprised at how refreshed you feel from that simple act.
Team Building: Fun or Useful?
I learned something this week. I should say I "re-learned" something. Team building without homework is entertainment. It is the time of year for "offsites". People are doing business planning. With business planning, comes the one or two day offsite (I'll come back to that in a future blog -- these are expensive -- are they necessary?). I get lots of calls from clients. "I have my team in for two days, can you do some team building with them?" My next question should always be, "do you want to have fun or do you want to improve how your team functions?" On at least one occasion this week, I neglected to ask that question.
Had I asked it and gotten the answer "I just want fun for the team." I would have said, "Don't hire me, spend the money on a martini bar, beer and wings or a fancy restaurant meal (whatever suits your team)."
Spending money on fun team building exercises is really a waste of money. These experiences have no lasting impact. Personally, as a team member myself, I'd rather have a nice social event than climb ropes or do games. What's the alternative?
Do some homework. -Find out how well you are leading the team. -Find out if they are clear on your vision. -Find out if they know what the team's role is in the vision and what their individual roles are. -Find out what is truly helpful to them about meetings and offsites. -Finally, find out what they really need and want to talk about at an offsite. Offsite opportunities are gold. Don't waste them. Once you have the answers to those questions, present them to the team. Facilitate a discussion. Come to some conclusions that will help the team perform better. If you are the leader of a team, you will also learn something about how you are leading that team. You should be entering any offsite with that valuable information in hand so you can act on it while you have your team in front of you. One of my colleagues always says, "work on the leader first, then the team." That is useful team building and money well spent.
Women’s Issues: Fact or Fiction?
I met with a potential client yesterday. She was interested in doing some work with a group of women in her organization. During our meeting, she asked a couple of questions that I often think about as well.
"Why do so many women feel that they do not need any extra help getting ahead? If they feel that way, why are we pushing them?"
Tough questions to answer. Here are my thoughts. My first answer is numbers speak. Look in your organization. What is the percentage of women leaders? For many, many organizations it is a small minority. Women have been in the workforce in large numbers since the 1970's. If the work culture supported our needs and our leadership styles easily, we would be somewhere closer to 50% of corporate leadership. We are not. We could use some help. My second answer is if we help each other we can make a difference. I had the privilege of working with a small group of high potential women in 2007. They are all exceptionally bright and capable. The difference our work made is summed up by one woman's comments:
"If I had had this help earlier in my career. I would have taken more control of my career, asked for more great projects, demanded work arrangements that worked for me, and chosen better mentors."
This woman was promoted into a leadership position last year. Would she have been promoted anyway? Probably. Did we get her there earlier? Maybe. Have we helped with the numbers in this organization? Unquestionably. If we can help earlier with younger women, the numbers will change. As the numbers change, more women will be promoted. We should do this because organizations will be better for it and because organizations are members of a community. Communities are about helping each other.
Successful Delegation - Using the Power of Other People’s Help
Here is a pretty comprehensive, but a quick read on getting better at delegating from Mindtools (wouldn't we all want to get better at delegating?). As I read it I see a few main points:
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Delegation is a development exercise. You need to think about out what people want to or need to learn before you delegate. You should also think about "leveraging your people's strengths" (delegating things they are good at so they can develop a uniquely specialized skill). If you want a staff member to develop their presence with a client, plan to delegate a client presentation. If they are really good at analyzing data and you want them to keep building that skill, delegate some tough analytical work to them. Personally, I think delegation is the most effective way to train and develop people (far more effective than training courses).
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To delegate well you need be organized. You need to plan what you will delegate, explain what you want when it is done and plan for follow-up discussions (to monitor progress and solve problems). I have a client who holds weekly delegation meetings. He reviews major projects with his team, delegates out work, asks for brief progress reports on previously assigned work and discusses issues to be solved on any current work. He gets this all done in 30-45 minutes each Monday morning. Simple process. Very effective.
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You need time to delegate. If time is short and you can`t risk failure on a certain project you probably can`t delegate. Do it yourself and plan enough time into the next project to delegate more effectively.
There is also a suggested work sheet included in the article. The work sheet is pretty basic but it may help you in planning for your delegation meetings with your staff.
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_98.htm
Persuasion Part Two
I go to the "Master" for this blog. A client asked me for a book on persuasion a few days ago. I didn't have one. I asked some of my contacts. I got a few ideas but no one raved about any one book. So, I went to the web and "goolged" "persuasion". Who's name should come up? Dale Carnegie. "How to Win Friends and Influence People." First published in 1936.
Carnegie is still the master of advice on influencing people. You certainly won't agree with all of his advice but it is worth reminding yourself of the really great things he taught. Here are some of my favorites.
Don't argue. Ever. You can't win and if you win, you lose. Instead,
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"Listen first. Don't interrupt, resist, defend, or debate.
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Look for areas of agreement.
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Promise to think over your opponents' ideas and study them carefully. Mean it. They may be right. Don't let them have the opportunity to say, "We tried to tell you, but you wouldn't listen."
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Thank your opponents sincerely for their interest. In taking the time to disagree with you, your opponent is showing that they are interested in the same things you are."
Think about what the other person really wants. Seems obvious. Take the time to do it.
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"Why talk about what we want? Of course, you are interested in what you want. You are eternally interested in it. But no one else is. The rest of us are just like you: we are interested in what we want. So the only way on earth to influence other people is to talk about what they want and show them how to get it."
Don't use "but". I hear it all of the time. People saying "your project was really great, but"...... No one ever remembers the part about the project being great. What comes after the "but" feels like a kick to the head. You can give people criticism and still influence them to do better. Instead of using "but" say, "You did a great job on that project. Your planning was great. The report was excellent. On the next project, I'd like you to also focus on your communication to all of the project sponsors throughout the project." No "but" anywhere.
Say thank-you a lot. Here's the story. Your teenage daughter finally takes out the garbage. You are thinking, "It is about time." "It is her job. I'm not going to acknowledge something she's supposed to do as part of her chores." If you want to influence her to do it again, you don't say these things. You say "thank-you". Appreciation is powerful. It makes people want to do things.
For more on Dale here's a link to a book summary and the Dale Carnegie website.
Persuasion or Politics?
How do you see it? Persuasion or politics? Managing through organizational minefields can cause great angst, frustration and "wasted" energy. "Organizational Politics" is one of the most common topics discussed with my coaching clients.
I have a bias. I see "organizational politics" as persuasion and I encourage all of my clients to see it the same way. Why?
How you view organizational politics will make you more powerful.
Here's a story.
One of my clients has a new boss. This new boss is not her favorite person. She has worked for him before. I know both people well and I think both are talented, well meaning, individuals. They are civil but they do not work well together. People say they have a "personality conflict." Knowing them both, I know that they both have a very different set of values from which they operate.
Let's face it. Organizations are really just a series of relationships. Relationships take effort. Even your most rewarding relationships have gotten that way through effort. In your personal life, you can choose who you form relationships with (most of the time). At work, more often you can't. If you are able to strip the emotion and judgement out of your view of the relationship, you can influence. If you view the relationship as "politics" or a personality conflict you most likely can't influence.
How's my client doing? She is an exceptional influencer (in the most positive sense). She would like a more senior leadership role. She knows leadership comes with some tough choices and some even tougher relationships particularly very senior roles. She is working on trying to understand her new boss and to influence him.
Posted by Sandra Oliver on March 26, 2008
Influencing
Leadership is Lonely
I met with a client today. The meeting struck me more than most meetings. I had planned to give him advice. I did not do what I had planned to do.
I listened. I asked questions.
He has a difficult "row to hoe". This leader needs to take some action. Everyone knows he needs to take action. Now is not the time to take that action. It is not the time for many good reasons.
Why is this so difficult? It is difficult because if you are truly a great leader (he is), you often can't tell anyone, "I know what you want me to do. I'll do it later." People ask, "Why isn't he doing this obvious thing?" Friends and colleagues offer feedback, "Just do this thing and everyone will be happy, confident, whatever...." People can see what needs to be done and because they can see it, they want it done now.
As a leader, you have to do what is best for the organization. If you try and cover all the bases, explain everything, tell everyone about future tough decisions, you make yourself look good but you do not help the organization. If you are a great leader, your timing is impeccable and you are lonely. When you take the action, everyone finally understands (or maybe not).
Women Are Different.
Seems obvious. If organizations can work from this assumption, they can help life at work will be more effective for all women.
I met with one of my clients today and we had a discussion about women and how they are different. We talked about her work and her life and we talked about a friend of hers who she thinks is having real difficulties at work. I will share three stories. First there is the story of this woman. Second, I'll tell her friend's story. The last story is another client of mine.
My client has never agonized over work/life balance. She loves her kids. She loves her work. She travels quite a bit and works long hours. On the weekends she doesn't work and she enjoys her husband and family. She has continued to move up but not agressively. She recently made a decision to go for the "big job".
The second woman (her friend) just had a baby. This woman does not apear to be motivated by work right now. She is becoming impatient with her staff. She is not on top of her work. In the past, she has been outstanding with staff and her work has always been exceptional.
The third story is about a woman in her 50s. Not married. No kids. She questioning if she really still enjoys what she does. She has held many "big jobs". She is quite successful but is considering a complete career change.
What ties all of this together? Two things.
One, each woman is unique. Even though their stories may be familiar to you. You have to be struck by how different they all are. These are all accomplished women. They are all successful.
The second thing is that their careers are not linear, even progressions. Their career paths have peaks and valleys and take different roads. In some cases, there are quite big diversions along the way (this often happens whether or not they have kids -- Read "On Ramps and Off Ramps", in Harvard Business Review for more on this).
Solving women's issues is not a simple thing. Large programatic solutions have limited impact. Really being helpful to women means taking a customized approach to each situation and taking the time to ride the peaks and valleys. Organizations that are prepared to dedicate time and effort into working with all of their talented women in a customized way will keep and develop the largest number of talented women. Period. There is no other more simple solution.
Management Tip of the Day from Harvard Business Review
Here is a great resource from one of the best publishers around - Management Tip of the Day. The tips are short and succinct, making it an easy, but useful daily read. Great management material in here. To subscribe go to: http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu and click on the Free Email Updates box at the left of the page.
“A Genius With a Thousand Helpers”
"Are you a genius with a thousand helpers?" I have to give credit to Jim Collins for the title of this blog. It is such a good description, I have found myself using it a lot with people lately. I come across many leaders like this in my coaching experience.
One of my first bosses was like this. I wondered why he didn't deal with substandard performance from his team. He had some great people. He had some people who were just not contributing. He didn't seem to be doing anything about it. Frustrated one day, I asked him about it. He answered, "I don't see a big risk. I can fix anything they might not get right." Interesting answer.
I'm guessing that you are already thinking about the risks of being "a genius with a thousand helpers": sustainability of your business, really being able to manage through the complexity and size of today's organizations, lack of successors for your role. I'm not going to focus on the risks here.
I want to address two questions, How does this happen? How do you know if you have fallen into this trap?""
How does it happen? These are my thoughts from what I have observed. I think there are two main reasons.
Many leaders are quite bright. Many have gotten to where they are on their own capabilities. It takes a different set of skills to leverage other people's capabilities. They have not spent much time thinking about or developing these skills. (They didn't need to).
Many leaders are quite competitive. (That's what got them to leadership.) Competitive people can at times be difficult to challenge and can have some habits that limit their ability to build a team-- they can be aggressive in meetings, they can be condescending in tone when frustrated and they can be dismissive when they feel people don't measure up. (See Marsall Goldsmith's book "What Got You Here Won't Get You There" for more detail on these habits.) These habits discourage dissent and encourage political maneuvering, creating a team of "yes people". Effective teams are able to engage in healthy debate. Healthy debate is difficult if you need to carefully manage how you say things.
How do you know if you are a "genius with a thousand followers"?
There is one simple test. How many true successors do you have? If you have two or three people who can fairly easily take your job, you are building a team. If you have no real successors there is a good chance you are a highly effective "one man band". If you are, start thinking about the risks of that to your business.
Making strategy more than a glossy document.
Here's the bottom line on strategic planning. It is very time consuming and often has little impact on most people in the organization. How do you change that? An effective strategy means that most people in your organization understand the strategy and know their role in making that strategy happen.
To test the effectiveness of your own strategy, ask ten people (from various levels and places in your organization) the following questions: 1. In your opinion, what is the single most important thing we are trying accomplish in this organization? 2. Again in your opinion, what are the two or three most important things we need to do to accomplish this thing (above)? 3. What is your role in this? What is the most important thing you can do to help this organization meet it's objectives?
If you ask ten people, I can almost guarantee that the answers you get will vary widely. If they do, that is a problem. The most effective way to run a business is to run it in a way so that everyone knows what they should be doing to make that business successful. Easy to understand. Hard to do. Here are my thoughts on how to do it.
The first thing you need is a good leadership team. Yes, this is the first thing. Team comes before strategy. (see Good to Great by Jim Collins --Get the right people on the bus). Your team does not need to be perfect. They need to be effective. Click here for more on leadership team effectiveness. They need to be capable. They need to be respected.
The second thing you need is a clear, direct, "elegantly simple" strategy. You get this strategy by working with your leadership team. It takes time and a lot of work. Many strategy documents I've seen are too long. A really useful strategy document should be one page. That one page should contain your over-riding goal (what you are trying to accomplish as an organization) and your strategies to get there (the things you need to do to accomplish the goal). For Southwest Airlines the over-riding goal is "the speed of a plane at the price of a car -- whenever you need it." The strategies that Southwest focuses on to meet this goal are: friendly service, speed and frequent point-to-point departures. I imagine it took a lot of work to get this strategy -- the simplicity of it is elegant, inspiring and memorable. The work that went into developing the strategy can be tracked in the teams' meeting notes. It should not form part of the strategy document.
The third and final thing you need is to engage the organization. Why? You can't meet your strategy if you don't talk about it and help people understand what they need to do to help accomplish that strategy. This is not a presentation. This is a discussion. This discussion happens all over the organization. The discussion happens with each leadership team. It happens with each employee group. The discussion involves telling some "stories". The stories come from the senior leadership team. The stories are about how and why the strategy was chosen. The stories are effective if people feel like they were there during the development of the strategy. The discussion also involves asking some questions. Questions like, "Given what you now know about your strategy, what do you need to do in your daily work to help accomplish that strategy?"The "elegantly simple strategy document should be the corner stone of the discussion. Put the document into people's hands (literally) while they are discussing it. Help them own it. This may sound time consuming. It is. It can't be delegated and it can't be done by someone other than the leadership team.
If you and your team do it right, most people in your organization will be able to tell you what the organization is trying to accomplish and what their role is in that. That is effective strategy.
How do you know if someone is going to respond to coaching?
"How do you know if someone is going to respond to coaching?" I have been asked this question by several clients this week. Three people asked if it was "too late" for someone who has been exhibiting "toxic" behaviors for 20 plus years. I applaud this question. It takes courage to ask it. Almost everyone thinks it. The answer is a most definite, "It is never too late, depending on the person, their coach, and the timing."
People want to know if they invest in coaching (either through an external coach or by taking the time to really coach someone themselves), how long will it take? How will they know if it will be successful? Fair questions. Coaching, if done right, is time consuming. Whether you do it yourself or ask an external coach to help you, this time can be costly.
Here are my thoughts on this question. There are two components -- how long? How do you know it will be successful? Both are dependent upon three things.
How do you know if coaching will be successful? The answer is simply, "you don't". People aren't widgets and their behavior can't be predicted. However, there are some things to look for to increase your chance of success.
The first thing to look for is how well the person accepts responsibility for themselves. If something goes wrong, do they openly look at their role in the event? Do they accept responsibility or cast blame? If you give them feedback do they listen or do they argue? Do they ask for feedback fairly regularly? Do you see them make changes in their behavior based upon feedback? If, most of the time, they accept responsibility and are open to act upon feedback then the chance of success for coaching is quite high (and the time will be relatively less). If they tend not to take responsibility or accept feedback well, coaching is more difficult and will be more time consuming but can still be successful if the person is motivated.
The second important component is "timing". Timing is good for coaching when the person is motivated . The person is motivated when either they really want to make some changes or when it has been strongly suggested that they change by their boss. Success is higher in the first instance (they ask for help). Both will work if the boss is good has delivered direct and clear feedback in a supportive manner.
I will tell a story here to demonstrate what I mean by "really wanting to change". Several years ago, I was asked by a client to coach one of his senior people. This person was in her 50s. We'll call her Alice. Alice had worked in several different organizations. She was extremely bright and extremely deep technically. She tended to have difficult relationships with peers and direct reports. Alice was tough on people. People preferred not to work with her. Some were afraid of her reactions which could be quite unpredictable and quite aggressive. I thought, "great, this will be a tough one!" This coaching assignment remains as one of my favorites. Why? Because it was a success and I wasn't at all sure it would be. The main reason was that the timing was right for Alice. Alice was tired of moving from organization to organization. She really wanted to make her current organization work. She was doing some new things in her personal life (becoming less focused on work) and she was really ready for a change. Timing for Alice was exactly right. She was motivated. Alice now leads quite a large team, quite successfully. She will probably finish her career in her current organization.
Finally, the coach is important. Most people focus on the "fit" between the coach and the client (or subordinate if it is an internal coaching relationship). Fit is important but not the only thing. The coach must be knowledgeable in the business they are working in. They must be respected by the client (or subordinate) and be able to challenge them. The right coach should employ others in the process. People usually need help to change old habits. A good coach gathers good feedback on a regular basis from others who see the client's (or subordinate's) work. A good coach encourages the client (or subordinate) to enlist others in his or her change journey by asking for help or feedback themselves.
Posted by Sandra Oliver on February 10, 2008
Coaching
Blog Article 
Dealing With Difficult Bosses by Fixing Yourself
Take the High Road. Don't Give Up Power. Bosses are in the eye of the beholder. Very few bosses are universally bad for every person who ever worked for them. Keep power by suspending judgement and focusing on your own success. If you truely have a toxic boss, protect yourself by being "backed-up". Be Better. Take the high road and be good yourself, continuing to develop your professional and interpersonal skills. Become a good boss yourself, learning what not to do from your current boss.
Expand Your Network. Get to know other people in your organization. A network of senior people who know your work and abilities increases both your power and your confidence.
"Let It Hit the Wall": In "Getting to Yes", (here's a summary of the book) Fischer, uses this is a negotiating technique. Let your boss' remarks "hit the wall behind your head and slide down to the floor" . If asked an insulting question, don't respond directly, but refocus instead on the business goals. Stay focused on your common interest, which is doing your job well. If you get angry, you lose power.
Be Happy. Always be polite, courteous and co-operative. Afterall, what is most important is how you enjoy your work and how well you do your job. Don't focus on the boss too much. It is you and your work that matters.
Adjust your style. What do you know about your boss? How does he or she like to work? How well are you adjusting your approach to meet your boss' preferences? Often "bad bosses" are bad for you because they don't meet your needs. If you focus on their needs, you will build trust and improve the relationship. If you improve the relationship, you can ask for what you want (e.g. more autonomy, more responsibility, etc.)
Finally, Just in Case, Be Backed Up: Document more than you might normally. Confirm instructions using email. Document inappropriate things your boss does or says. You can decide how to deal with this depending upon the situation but you want to be well backed up (hopefully you won't need it). "If your boss tells you to stop writing things down, explain that writing is the best way for you to be sure you understood correctly, and you want to be sure you are doing the right thing" .
